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All About Pearls All About Pearls PEARLESCENCE All About Pearls www.pearlescence.co.uk All About Pearls A – AAA Grading system Essence pearls are exceptional pearls, selected for highly metallic lustre, clean surface and shape, in that order. Usually only found by selecting in person. Probably under 1% of pearls will show the mirror metallic lustre we look for. AAA: The highest-quality pearl, virtually flawless. The surface will have a very high lustre , not necessarily metallic, and at least 95% of the surface of each pearl is free of flaws. Any flaws are very small and hardly noticeable. AA+ Nearly as good as AAA but perhaps slightly off round when rolled and a few more flaws although these will still only be visible on close inspection. AA Average to good lustre, off round, blemishing to 20% of surface A: This is the lowest jewellery-grade pearl, with a lower lustre and/or more than 25% of the surface showing defects. Probably a round pearl will be egg shaped, even from a distance Any website or other seller which talks about AAAA+++ grade pearls is talking rubbish and this should be queried. Tahitian pearls have a distinct and separate system, established by GIE Perles de Tahiti, and the Ministere de la Perliculture of Tahiti which grades from A (finest) to D ( poor) but to avoid confusion Pearlescence uses only the A-AAA gradings throughout the website. Abalone blue pearls Just being developed in New Zealand. The abalone produces a distinctive and stunningly iridescent blue pearl but is very hard to nucleate as its blood does not clot, so any damage will kill it. Akoya A pearl from the akoya oyster (Pinctada Fucata Martensii). This is a salt water mollusc. http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 2 Most cultured sea pearls are akoya pearls which are made with a bead nucleus, so that they usually have a good round shape. Big irregularities tend to be tails while less than perfect pearls have nacre with pits or convolutions. Good akoya pearls have a sharply reflective metallic lustre. http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 3 Smaller (under 8mm) akoya pearls tend to come from China (although chinese production has dropped with the recession) while Japanese akoya pearl farmers are concentrating on producing larger high quality pearls (made-up necklaces marked Made In Japan may have been made with Chinese pearls if under 8mm) akoya pearls are harvested after only 9-16 months. The problem is in obtaining pearls with sufficient nacre. Pearls with very thin nacre may even 'blink' which means that when rolled the nacre blinks to show patches where there is no nacre and you can see the nucleus. Below is a very bad example – the cream colour is nacre and the white is nucleus. Even when the nacre appears solid it can be very thin: peer closely and you can just about make out the thin line of the black nacre on the akoya pearl on the left (which split in half) The nacre on the pearl on the right is so thin the pearl is said to be blinking – if you roll it around it appears to blink, with sight of the nucleus. http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 4 Baroque Baroque pearls are strictly all non-round pearls but the term is usually applied to pearls which are not round but which nevertheless have a good rounded surface all over. Freshwater pearls are most commonly baroque as freshwater pearls are mantle-tissue nucleated instead of bead nucleated. So round pearls are the exception, although more are being produced as techniques improve. The most valuable baroque pearls are South Sea and Tahitian pearls which are produced by Black- lipped and White-lipped oysters (Pinctada margaritifera, and the Pinctada maxima). Commercial baroque pearls tend to be bigger pearls – there is a balancing act for the pearl farmer between leaving the pearl in the mollusc with the chance of a big round pearl and the likelihood that the pearl will go out of round and become baroque and therefore less valuable Bead Nucleation All sea pearls are grown around a bead. It used to be that beads were not used in the production of most freshwater pearls (exceptions include coin pearls for example) However the last couple of years have seen the development of bead nucleation in freshwater pearls, producing second or third graft round pearls of stunning colour, lustre and shape. High quality bead nuked pearls are still exceptional and unusual and therefore very expensive, but can be up to 14mm. These freshwater pearls have been bead nucleated, and you can see the thick layer of nacre surrounding the nucleus Biwa Or sometimes biwi-A freshwater pearl grown in lake Biwi in Japan. Not in the present as the pearl farms were closed due to pollution. Now often applied to any stick pearl Bleaching White pearls are colour treated by bleaching. This applies to both Akoya and Freshwater pearls. Black-lipped Oyster Pinctada margaritifera This oyster produces the Tahitian black pearl Blinking Term to describe poor quality bead nucleated pearls where the nacre does not even fully cover the nucleus. When the strand is rolled the pearls look as if they are blinking. Blister A pearl that is attached to the inner surface of a mollusc shell http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 5 Button Often rounded on one side and flat on the other. Sometimes also called a fastener pearl . Most often used to make stud earrings, because in larger sizes round pearls can be too proud of the earlobe. Carat Classic term to identify the amount of gold in metal. Different metals are added to gold to harden it and make it more durable. Expressed as a fraction of 24 parts so that 24ct is fine gold or pure gold, down to the lowest standard which is 9ct in the UK, usually 14ct elsewhere. Circle pearls No one knows exactly why some pearls develop circles. These can be bands of colour or grooves, as if the pearl has gently spun on its axis in the pearl sac. While circle pearls tend not to be the most expensive they are not as yet imitated and have stunning variety Colour. Natural freshwater pearls tend to be shades of white through to pale pinks and peaches and golds The intensity of the colour depends on the species and strain of host mollusc plus the farm water and food. Tahitian and South sea pearls are not usually dyed. http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 6 Colour Treatments Many pearls are coloured treated as part of the processing between farm and retailer. There is however, now a trend towards completely natural colour untreated pearls. Silver nitrate and gamma radiation are two treatments. (see separate entries) and white bleached akoya pearls are often 'pinked' - delicate tinted to a faint pink overtone which softens the colour and is supposedly more flattering and desirable. Coin Usually a round flat pearl shaped like a coin, also used to describe fancy hearts, squares, lozenge and other shaped pearls Conch Pearls Rarest of the natural pearls, conch pearls look a bit like jelly beans. They are not nacreous but have a distinctive flame pattern on the surface. The colours range from orange, through yellow to pink Cook Island Pearls Specific group of south sea islands which produce their own distinctive pearls from Pinctada Margaritifera. The pearls show the same colours as Tahitian pearls but are softer looking in shades http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 7 Cortez Pearls Very rare pearls produced by one farm in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico,from Concha Nácar, Pteria sterna, the rainbow lipped oyster. These pearls fluoresce red under UV light. Cross Cross can be diagonal or crucifix. Some cross pearls which also have nacre between the limbs have been sold as butterfly pearls Cristaria plicata The cockscomb pearl mussel was the mollusc originally used by the Chinese when they started to culture freshwater pearls. The pearls produced are known as rice crispie pearls because of their resemblance to the cereal http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 8 Cultured A pearl formed after a human puts a bead nucleus or mantle tissue into a mollusc. Any farmed pearl is cultured. Any real pearl feels faintly gritty when rubbed gently on your teeth and the drill hole tends to be very small (usually 0.7mm)(because pearls are still often sold by weight) http://www.pearlescence.co.uk Page 9 Culturing Freshwater Pearls In freshwater mussels, insertion of only mantle tissue is enough to trigger the making of a pearl sac and therefore pearl production. It used to be that beads were not used. However the last couple of years have seen the development of bead nucleation in freshwater pearls, producing second or third graft round pearls of stunning colour, lustre and shape. High quality bead nuked pearls are still exceptional and unusual and therefore very expensive, but can be up to 14mm. Even larger pearls are being produced with pearls nucleated with a lump of mud (!) these pearls, third graft, are of stunning lustre and a rather keishi appearance so far. When drilled the mud is drained away so that the pearl is hollow and light in weight. However most freshwater cultured pearls are still solid pearl nacre, even pearls up to 15mm. This means that they are arguably more durable but the chances of non-perfect round shapes are higher Since so many good quality white fake pearls are now available the trend is for natural colour pearls to remain untreated. Usually white freshwater pearls have to be bleached.
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